


Salt and Soap and Whiskey

by Mice



Series: Sea Change [1]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Shaw gets emotional, gentle smutty bits, spoilers for Shadows Rising
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25772032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mice/pseuds/Mice
Summary: At the end of Shadows Rising, Shaw asked Flynn to meet him at the Gilded Rose. He hoped it would be the start of something.
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw
Series: Sea Change [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875685
Comments: 32
Kudos: 145





	Salt and Soap and Whiskey

**Author's Note:**

> My first WoW fic, but Flynn is the most adorable disaster bi on Azeroth. Who could resist? Certainly not Shaw! Not me, either.

_"Meet me at the Gilded Rose tonight, will you? Don't be late."_

The meeting after he'd delivered Sira Moonwarden and Thrall's unopened missive had lasted for several hours. There had been much to report about what he and Flynn had discovered in Nazmir, and the King and his advisors had spent quite some time prompting him for every detail he could dredge from his memory.

Stronger than any of the facts he could produce was the sense memory of Flynn's arms thrown around him on the deck of that Vrykul merchantman; warmth and welcome, the scent of salt and soap and whiskey. Mathias shook his head as he approached the busy Trade District inn. He wondered if Flynn would be there already. He'd not specified a time. 'Tonight' was vague, but he hadn't known how long they'd keep him. A spymaster's responsibilities were many and heavy, and they took precedence over everything else in his life.

Mathias opened the door to the inn, looking around the cheerful interior, packed with adventurers and merchants. Flynn sat at a table in the corner, intently studying the blade of grass Mathias had given him, twirling it gently between thumb and forefinger, lost in thought. There was a large mug before him on the table. He looked up as Mathias stepped into the inn, a bright, toothy grin splitting his broad, sunburnt face when he realized who had entered. He bolted to his feet as Mathias crossed the room to meet him, wobbling slightly.

When he got to the table, he was enveloped in another tight, warm hug, much like the one that had greeted him when he made landfall. Mathias wrapped his arms around Flynn and held on. Light, how he'd wanted this.

"You're back. You're safe," Flynn murmured.

"I am."

Flynn took his shoulders and held him back at arm's length. "I thought I'd left you for dead, you slithery scalliwag. Do you have any idea what that did to me?"

Mathias took one of Flynn's wrists in hand and they both sat, close around the corner of the little table. "I worried you'd been lost in the storm, that you'd never make it to shore."

"We're quite the pair, aren't we?" Flynn smiled and shook his head then bellowed, "Barkeep! A whiskey for my friend here!" He gestured broadly with the hand that still held the blade of grass. Mathias looked over his shoulder at the barkeep, who nodded, then turned his attention back to Flynn, who held the blade of grass up between them. "I realize you must have been taken with my nigh-irresistible charm, but aren't flowers more traditional for a token of affection? I mean, this _is_ a token of affection, isn't it? Or is this just some weird mainlander tradition?"

"It is," Mathias said. "A token of affection, I mean. It's… a long story."

"Well, those are usually the best ones, aren't they?" Flynn grinned as the barkeep brought a whiskey for Mathias and set it on the table. The captain pulled a coin from the pocket of his greatcoat and handed it to the barkeep, then sent him off.

"This isn't the place for it, though." Mathias picked up the glass of whiskey and knocked it back, needing something to loosen the knots of stress in his shoulders.

Flynn's thick fingers played with the grass. "What is the place for it, then?"

"Mine?" Mathias suggested. "But I'm a little hungry, and there's nothing at all there to eat right now. Will you mind?"

Flynn looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "D'you think I'd deny you anything right now? I thought you dead, Shaw, and you're not. You're sitting right here in front of me like some uptight miracle. Eat something, and then -- well, you're a bit rank, really. No baths for prisoners of the Zandalari, I take it?"

Mathias shook his head. "I could use a bath, you're right." He raised a hand to get the attention of the woman serving at the tables as Flynn began to twist and fold the little blade of grass. He ordered a cheese plate and some Dalaran white as Flynn folded and tucked, turning the grass into a tiny, hollow heart. As the cheese and wine arrived, Flynn loosed the cord that held his hair back and tugged out a few auburn strands with a muttered "ow" and braided them with surprising dexterity into a tiny cord.

As Mathias ate and watched, Flynn pulled his compass from his pocket and flipped open the cover. Tucking the thin cord he'd made through a small gap in the grass heart, he knotted it tight against the catch that latched the compass, securing it to the cover. He looked up at Mathias, meeting his eyes as he snapped it closed. "Any proper token of affection should be in a place that'll always take me home." His voice was quiet and his eyes were solemn, and Mathias's heart ached with the sound of it. "True north," Flynn said.

Mathias finished his cheese and wine and set his glass down. "There's too much I need to say. Will you come with me?"

"Wild murlocs couldn't stop me." Flynn shot him a crooked grin. "Believe me, they'd give me pause for most things. Nasty little buggers."

Mathias paid for his food and drink at the bar, then gestured to the door. Flynn followed him out into the night and they made their way through the well-lit streets of Stormwind, across the canal into Old Town, where Mathias had a small apartment near the SI:7 compound. "It's not much," he said as they got to the door. 

"More than my cabin on the _Bold Arva_ , I'm sure, but we shared that well enough." He slid an arm around Mathias's waist, close and warm. 

Mathias closed the door behind them and lit the lanterns with a sigh. Home. A few small rooms and a hearth, near-empty of anything that didn't relate to his work. He started a fire to heat some water for a bath as Flynn watched. "Did they hurt you?" Flynn asked. It hadn't been Mathias's imagination -- Flynn was thinner, and there were dark crescents of exhaustion under his eyes.

Mathias shook his head. "No. The Horde needed me in one piece to deliver a message." He tilted his head. "You'd have been amused by the prison, though."

"There's not much amusing about prisons unless it's starting a riot so you can escape," Flynn said.

"This one was made of gold." He chuckled as Flynn's eyes went wide.

"Did you bring any back?" he asked, awed.

Mathias rolled his eyes. "I had other things on my mind. What would you have suggested to break some free, my teeth?"

Flynn shrugged. "I don't know. You didn't have any super-extra-secret Gnomish invention on your person anywhere?"

He snorted and shook his head. "The way they searched me, I couldn't have hidden a flea. Besides, they tend to explode at inopportune moments."

"Ohhh, ouch." Flynn's brow wrinkled. 

"Indeed."

Flynn's eyes tightened as Mathias put a large water basin on the fire to heat. "Never do that to me again," he said, angry, his voice rising as he spoke. "We had the guns rolled out. We'd have given them six pounds of Kul Tiras's best, a dozen times over, if it would have got you back. It killed me to have to leave you there!"

"I can't promise you that," Mathias responded, exhausted. "I can't promise you that any more than you can promise me you'll never be lost at sea. That you'll never go down with your ship." He took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let frustration get the best of him. Flynn _cared_ or he'd not have said anything. "You don't know what it meant to me when you came barreling through the King himself to see me home. I've given my entire life to this kingdom, and to the Alliance, and I've never asked a gods-damned thing for myself -- not once. There has _never_ been anyone waiting for me when I got back to Stormwind, when I've been pulled out of worse places than I want to remember, where I'd been abandoned and forgotten--" Mathias choked to a stop, braced against the back of a chair with one hand. "And _you were there_. You were waiting for me."

"By the Tides, how could I do anything else?" Flynn's voice was rough and cracked by emotion. "I couldn't eat. I spent the entire bloody time soused to the gills because I couldn't stand the thought of you dead. When they said… when they said you were coming back, I could hardly believe it. Melli all but killed herself to get us to Boralus. We ran the _Arva_ like a demon before the wind, and it wasn't for those damned papers, Mathias, it was for _you_." He threw his arms around Mathias and clung to him, the two of them rocking gently back and forth in the warmth of the hearth and the gentle lantern light. Flynn choked back tears as he said, "And you still stink like a murloc, you ass."

Mathias ran his hands up and down Flynn's broad back, his face buried in the man's shoulder. "Call me an ass and tell me I stink, but by all that's holy, stay with me tonight. Please. That's all I want. Just this one thing for myself. Just you. Just to not be alone anymore."

"You're mad if you think I'd leave," Flynn said, one big hand cupping Mathias's cheek in his palm. He tilted his face down and kissed Mathias, fierce and longing, and both of them moaned, soft in the close light of the small room. Mathias dug his fingers into Flynn's long hair, desperate to just hold on and feel their bodies pressed close. Breathless, Flynn broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Mathias's, blue eyes squeezed tight shut. "You'll no doubt be sick of me soon enough, like everyone else, but I can't help it. I'll stay for as long as you'll let me."

Mathias nuzzled Flynn's nose. "You are ridiculously annoying sometimes, and you drink too much, but when I was in that Zandalari prison, you were the only thing on my mind. There were so many things I wanted to say to you and I thought I'd never have the chance. I might occasionally want to toss you off a pier, but I doubt I'll ever be sick of you."

Flynn sighed and opened his eyes. He started at the fastenings of Mathias's armor. "Tides, man, take a bath and then we'll run up the pennants. Everything else can wait until morning. Tell me you don't have to go do official sneaky things first thing tomorrow, please."

"No, I've a couple of days to myself before they want me back, unless there's an emergency." Mathias, much more familiar with his own armor than Flynn was, made short work of the fastenings, tossing his things aside to be dealt with later, then laid his hands on Flynn's clothes.

"A couple of days. Sounds like paradise." Coat, shirt, and trousers were flung to the floor and soon both of them stood naked, assessing each other for a moment. "I'll haul the water for you. You're looking a bit scrawny."

"I could haul you _and_ the water," Mathias snorted, letting Flynn do the lifting. The man's muscles rippled as he toted the heavy basin and brought it to the bathtub, pouring the water in. It steamed gently and Mathias tested it with a finger. Just the right temperature. He stepped in and Flynn took up the cloth that had been hanging over the edge, and a bar of soap. "I'm perfectly capable of washing myself," Mathias said, arching an eyebrow.

"But why would you want to?" Flynn responded with a smirk.

"An excellent question." Mathias slid down into the water, arms held up over his head as he sank deeper. "Have at it."

Flynn grinned. "With pleasure, my dear Master Shaw." Flynn soaped him and scrubbed him and washed his hair, and Mathias relaxed into it, just enjoying those warm, rough hands on his skin. It had been ages since anyone had touched him who hadn't meant to kill him, and what that said about his life wasn't something he wanted to ponder right that moment. Flynn's lips met his, gentle and slow as he brought Mathias to his feet then poured the rest of the water over him to rinse away the soap. They both needed the towel by the time they were done, and Mathias was tired but achingly hard.

Flynn was a tall, broad man, well-built, with half a head of height on Mathias. His cock matched the rest of him, long and thick and standing tall. He led Flynn into his little bedroom, then tugged the covers down the bed. They lay together, face to face on their sides, and kissed, their bodies pressed close. It felt wonderful, but Mathias's exhaustion was going to catch up to him much sooner than he wanted. "I won't last long," he murmured.

"Then let me take care of you." Flynn kissed his way down Mathias's body. "We've time for more later, when you're rested." With that, he sucked Mathias in and stroked what didn't fit in his mouth, dragging pleasure from his body until Mathias came with a shudder, his fingers knotted in Flynn's long, loose hair. "Oh, you are a beauty, looking like that. Your eyes go all soft and happy when you've come. It's a good look on you."

"Let me return the favor, at least, before I pass out," Mathias murmured.

"Just take me in hand, love. That'll more than serve." Mathias didn't know if Flynn realized what he'd called him, but he wasn't going to question it when it made his chest go tight with emotion. He did as the man asked, and pulled at him gently, their fingers entwined on the man's long, thick shaft as Flynn's breath got quick and deep, eyes closed in pleasure. He leaned in and kissed Flynn, who moaned and squeezed himself with Mathias's hand, until there was a warm splash of fluid between them. Flynn gasped for breath for a moment, head thrown back exposing the long column of his throat, and Mathias kissed that, as well.

Flynn's eyes opened and Mathias yawned, feeling lazy and sated. "I have… so much I want to say to you," Mathias murmured.

"It'll keep until morning," Flynn said, tugging the covers up over them. "Sleep. I'll keep you safe in my arms tonight."

With a sigh, Mathias closed his eyes and settled into Flynn's warm embrace, wrapped in the scent of salt and soap and whiskey.


End file.
